The furious parents of a nine-year-old boy have been slapped with ?120 fines - after taking their son out of school to attend his grandma's funeral in South Africa. Carol Follows says she informed St Matthew?s CE Academy, in Rough Close, that she would need to take nine-year-old Logan out of school for 12 days following her mum's sudden death. Caption: Logan Follows was taken out of school to attend his gran's funeral in South Africa
Logan Follows, nine, was taken to South Africa for his grandmother’s funeral (Picture: BPM Media)

A family who took their son out of school to attend his grandmother’s funeral in South Africa have been hit with a £120 fine.

Carol and David Follows told St Matthew’s CE Academy, in Stoke-on-Trent, they needed to take Logan, nine, away for a period of 12 days at the end of June.

But they were informed by school staff that the absence would become ‘unauthorised’ after just five days.

They then changed their plans so that Logan was only absent from June 27 to July 4, but were stunned to receive a £120 fine from Stoke-on-Trent City Council in August.

Mrs Follows, 49, moved to the UK from South Africa 19 years ago and said she needed the time to sort out her mother’s funeral and estate.

She says  she notified the school that her mother was not well on June 17, before she died unexpectedly the same day.

The family then told the school they would be away from June 20 until July 8, although Logan returned on July 5 in the end.

The furious parents of a nine-year-old boy have been slapped with ?120 fines - after taking their son out of school to attend his grandma's funeral in South Africa. Carol Follows says she informed St Matthew?s CE Academy, in Rough Close, that she would need to take nine-year-old Logan out of school for 12 days following her mum's sudden death. Caption: David Follows with his son Logan
The family are unable to speak to the school about the fine until September (Picture: BPM Media)

Mrs Follows told StokeonTrentLive: ‘We followed the correct protocol and sent a letter. The school said we could have five days of authorised absence, but the rest would be unauthorised.

‘It was obviously going to take us longer than five days to sort out the estate.’

The penalty for Logan’s absence was issued on August 14, and could rise to £1,000 if the family fail to pay it.

They are able to challenge it with the headteacher, but the school does not return for the next academic year until September 3.

According to the penalty charge notice, the headteacher can withdraw the fine if it ‘should not have been issued’ or has not been issued ‘in accordance with the local code of conduct’.

However, if not withdrawn and left unpaid, it states that the family will be ‘liable to prosecution for the offence that your child has failed to attend school regularly’.

If the family pay the fine by September 6, it will be halved to £60.

Mrs Follows continued: ‘Logan has never exceeded absence levels and is above average on his school reports, so I don’t understand why we are being penalised for my mum dying.’

She added: ‘It’s just not acceptable. If I had just gone on holiday then I would have paid the fine, but I was taking my son to bury his grandmother – I couldn’t just leave him at home.

‘It just doesn’t leave a good taste in my mouth.’

Stoke-on-Trent City Council declined to comment.

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